It’s almost the Fourth of July, the date that red-blooded Americans thank God that they are not British. And, increasingly, we give homage to our corporate sponsors. I was 
walking by the St. Louis Arch today, and noticed all of those American flags flapping in the wind in anticipation of the big St. Louis Independence Day Fair at the arch grounds.
I looked more closely and noticed that flapping along with the American flags were the flags of a corporate who’s who. AT&T, Pepsi, Boeing, Peabody Coal, InBev, U.S. Bank and many 
others, letting us know how inter-twined government is with corporate America these days.
After they noticed that there were 50 stars, what would the founding fathers have thought had they seen those American flags touching the flags of corporations? They would probably have asked why those corporate flags were there, and we’d need to explain that corporations own Congress and control the elections. I doubt that that would satisfy them.
I doubt it as well.
It's high time for a thoughtful re-design of "Old Glory". I propose eliminating all the little white stars on this American totem, and in their place we could put tiny corporate logos. I'm thinking the Top 50 corporate campaign "donors" to either the Republican or Democratic Party would earn a spot on the new flag. In the unlikely event of a main corporate sponsor of USA Inc. dropping out of the Top 50 (I'm sure the competition would be fierce), another company with high enough campaign contributions can take their honored place on the blue field.
I can almost see all the vast patriotic rallies, fireworks and ceremonies that would spring up throughout the land on the Great American Flag Re-Launch Day.
I think this re-imagined American flag would be more colorful, fun and honest. We could even retain it's nickname "Stars and Stripes", but the stars here would of course refer to our Corporate Stars instead of our States.
U.S. Flag code
(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.
Rgarrett: Thanks for that interesting bit of information.